Iron Kingdoms

The Iron Lich (Asphyxious) and the Butcher of Khardov (Orsus Zoktavir) duke it out alongside their titular warmachines.

"Play like you've got a pair!"

—The oft-quoted Page 5 of the WARMACHINE Prime and HORDES Primal rulebooks

Iron Kingdoms is a fantasy setting created by the gaming company Privateer Press. Originally designed as a campaign setting for the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons, it is now known chiefly as the setting for the two miniatures-based tabletop strategy games WARMACHINE and HORDES.

The term "Iron Kingdoms" specifically refers to a collection of human nations in the western portion of the continent of Immoren on a planet known as Caen. In the past, Western Immoren used to be a fairly typical fantasy setting, where warriors used swords and bows, wizards cast spells, and parties of human, dwarven, and (occasionally) elven adventurers would wander the land, beating up goblins, ogres (called ogrun in Immoren), trolls, and other monsters in order to take their stuff. All that changed when the Orgoth invaded from across the western ocean. A race of humans whose immensely powerful sorcery put Immoren magic to shame, the Orgoth easily conquered the squabbling human city-states of Immoren and ruled the land as unbeatable overlords for the better part of four hundred years. No longer able to rely on standard swords and sorcery, Immoren freedom fighters were forced to develop new technologies in order to counter the Orgoth's immense magical advantage—technologies such as steam engines, gunpowder, and magic steam-powered robots that make use of both. The rebellion also forced the humans of Immoren to put aside their old racial grudges, and goblins, ogrun, and trollkin (the most intelligent and civilized of the trolls) stood side-by-side with humans against the Orgoth invaders. After another two hundred years of fighting, the inhabitants of Immoren finally managed to drive the Orgoth from their shores. In order to prevent their lands descending into chaos once more, the human rulers of Immoren met in the city of Corvis and drew up a series of treaties that officially divided their lands into the titular Iron Kingdoms:

In addition to these five human kingdoms, there are a number of other power blocs on the continent:

  • Cryx, an island nation ruled by the Godzilla-sized dragon Lord Toruk. Seems to be populated entirely by The Undead and Exclusively Evil humans and ogrun (most of whom are pirates).
  • Ios, home of the elves; rarely seen by outsiders, as the elves are not the friendliest folks on the continent. Also home to one of the two remaining elven Physical Gods, who is comatose and dying. The Nyss have the other encased in a block of ice.
  • Rhul, home of the dwarves, a nation which has not seen any major political or societal upheavals in over a thousand years. Of all the fantasy races in the Iron Kingdoms, the dwarves are probably played the straightest, the sole exception being their lack of animosity towards the elves and full beards.
  • The Skorne Empire, which lies on the other side of a vast desert to Cygnar's east. A nation of Proud Warrior Race Guys, the skorne have only recently begun to stir up trouble in the western part of the continent.
  • The Nyss, an arctic subgroup of elves who are marginally more friendly than their woods-dwelling counterparts. Currently engaged in a desperate life-or-death struggle with the disembodied life force of a dragon that's trying to turn them all into monsters.
  • The Trollbloods, a collection of trolls and trollkin desperately trying to reclaim their ancestral homelands. They get understandably short-tempered when the other power blocs try to muscle in on their turf.
  • Circle Orboros, a faction of druids who seek to maintain the delicate balance between civilized order and natural chaos, in order to prevent The End of the World as We Know It. They tend to pick fights with anyone who encroaches too deeply into their forests and are most concerned at the moment by the rise of Everblight and other dragon spawn.
  • The Legion Of Everblight, a growing empire ruled by a disembodied dragon that is two parts The Virus to one part Demonic Possession, with a Hive Mind thrown in for good measure. Their numbers comprise the Nyss elves who weren't lucky enough to escape Everblight's grasp, and Ogrun tribes that were in the region.
  • Large numbers of Mercenaries that by and large operate outside the confines of the Iron Kingdoms' political structure, and fight primarily for coin. Mercenaries are often seen fighting alongside the troops and warjacks of one of the other factions, though dedicated Mercenary armies also exist. Mercenary characters run the gamut from noble to villainous, idealistic to cynical, and coldly calculating to flat frickin' crazy. Many of them are also pirates.
  • The minor non-human races of Western Immoren, collectively known as Minions, that often serve as warriors for hire in much the same way as the Mercenaries. Like the Mercenaries, dedicated Minion armies also exist; many of these center around the boar-like Farrow or the alligator-like Gatormen, both of whom have started banding together to push interlopers out of their tribal lands.

Of course, for all this political and technological mucking about, the Iron Kingdoms are still by-and-large a heroic fantasy setting. It's just that the warriors now also use guns, the wizards now also use machines, and the goblins, ogrun, and trolls are now just as likely to be adventurers (or hapless townsfolk) as adventurer-bait.

A Warmachine video game is in the works, with gameplay footage unveiled at Gen Con 2010, with an actual trailer shown at E3 2011 (which can be found here). The Gameplay Footage from 2010 can be found here (though if anyone can find a better-quality version of the footage, it would be greatly appreciated).

Trope like you've got a pair!
  • Abusive Precursors: The Orgoth check all the boxes, and then some. Their oppressive reign on Western Immoren had to be ended by a coalition of the occupied nations, who hate each other's guts. Their mastery of The Dark Arts was such that they could teach the Lich Lords of Cryx a thing or two about Black Magic.
    • And in fact Cryx learned a lot about the Dark arts form studying them.
  • Aerith and Bob: You'll find "normal" names applied mostly to humans (Coleman, Vladimir, Fiona, etc.) and "fantasy" names applied mostly to non-humans (Madrak, Vyros, Gudrun, etc.).
  • All There in the Manual: Multiple tabletop battle rulebooks, no fewer than five hardcover RPG volumes, the "No Quarter" magazine, and the Privateer Press website, all of which contain fiction and background information that fleshes out the world and the people who live in it.
  • Amazon Brigade: Tharn Bloodtrackers, Wolf Riders and Bloodweavers, Satyxis Raiders and Blood Witches, and Daughters of the Flame.
  • Ancient Tomb: Many locations in the Iron Kingdoms could qualify as this, though Orgoth temples are considered some of the most dangerous.
  • Animated Armor: Everblight warlock Bethayne is accompanied into battle by Belphagor, an artificial Bond Creature that she can wear as a living suit of Powered Armor.
  • Anime Hair: Most Caspians/Cygnarans. Commander Coleman Stryker, whose hairstyle resembles a lit match, is a both a particularly egregious example and an in-universe trend-setter. The elves of the Retribution of Scyrah also have hair the color of which you'd only find in anime.
  • Animesque: The Retribution of Scyrah.
  • Animorphism: The Tharn. Also, Warpwolves can switch between their wolf and human forms, though they prefer the former.
  • Anti-Magic: Several people and things in the game have the ability to prevent magic spells from being cast by certain models or by multiple models within a certain area (Grissel Bloodsong, Orin Midwinter, etc.).
    • Soulless who have been conditioned like Nayl have this effect when they die.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Vinter Raelthorne takes the gold for this in the IK universe.
  • Arm Cannon: Bartolo Montador has a powerful gun concealed in his artificial arm and a large minority of warjacks, such as the Sentinel or Destroyer, have guns in place of arms.
  • Art Major Biology: Relates to pretty much anything in the IK that isn't human.
  • Artificial Limbs: Given the setting, there are many examples to be had, but Master Necrotech Mortenebra takes this as far as possible, replete with Spider Limbs and a body to match. The Necrotechs of Cryx share similar, albeit less advanced versions of the same general anatomy, and as a whole the Necrotechs are responsible for the developement of Cryxian warjacks and the more... mechanical troops at Cryx's disposal.
    • Notable examples outside of Cryx include Asheth Magnus (bionic arm and leg), Major Victoria Haley (bionic arm), and Captain Bartolo "Broadsides Bart" Montador (bionic arm with a built-in cannon).
  • Artifact of Death: Whenever Madrak Ironhide is wounded in a fight his axe, Rathrok, will automatically transfer all the damage to a friendly trollkin trooper who happens to be standing next to him at that exact moment. It always results in the other guy's death, even if Madrak was just grazed.
  • Artifact of Doom:
    • The axe Rathrok has a nice, ugly doomsday prophecy tied to it. Madrak initially didn't believe it, but the more time he spends with it, the less he doubts it very well may mean the end of all life on Caen.
    • Many Orgoth relics subsist in the lands they used to occupy and are sought after by all kinds of ruthless people, most prominently the Lich Lords of Cryx or the Khadoran Grey Lords.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking:
    • Played straight with Hierarch Voyle, who was literally invincible under Menoth's blessing.
    • Averted with Empress Ayn Vanar of Khador.
    • Vinter Raelthorn IV. Full stop. After being kicked out of his own kingdom by his brother, he proceeds to wander across the desert and conquer a new kingdom for himself. By himself. Twice; Once after he defeated the masters of various houses in the Skorne homeland and again when he returned from a reconnaissance mission to find the empire in a state of civil war.
      • Make that Three Times. Soloed the Bloodstone Marches (again), fought off a unit that gets stronger the more of them you kill, then takes out a warjack in three strokes. Before sitting down to negotiate.
  • Awesome Backpack: The smoke-belching Warcaster armor worn to generate an energy field, enhance their physical abilities, and nullify the chance of arcane spells fizzling when casting while wearing armor.
  • Awesome but Impractical: Firearms in the original RPG rules. They were slow to reload, had little more stopping power than a bow and arrow, and were insanely expensive to own and maintain. Made somewhat more practical by the official errata dropping all ammunition costs by an order of magnitude.
    • The Cygnar Thunderhead Warjack is seen as this in universe. Unlike other Warjacks which run on coal, it runs on electricity, which while powerful, means very few Warcasters can actually understand how the thing is used.
  • Awesome By Analysis: While most feats are often described as a burst of arcane energy, Supreme Kommandant Irusk's feat is described as basically him being Sun Tzu. Even writing a book.
    • Several Mercenary Warcasters do this, meshing foresight with luck (Ashlynn de'Elyse), planning (Magnus The Warlord), or decades of experience (Drake MacBain).
  • Awesome McCoolname: Drake MacBain
  • Axe Crazy: Tharn Ravagers, Doom Reavers, Nihilators, Warmongers and the Butcher of Khardov.
  • An Axe to Grind: Tharn Ravagers, Kromac the Ravenous, and quite a few people/warjacks/warbeasts from the Khador and Trollblood factions all wield oversized axes as their primary weapon.
  • Back From the Dead: Deneghra and the Harbinger.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Khador's Great Bears of Gallowswood are a trio that fight in this manner.
  • Badass: Pretty much every named character. Even some of the Mooks are portrayed this way in the fluff.
  • Badass Beard: Harkevich's beard reached meme status on the forums before he was released
  • Badass Longcoat: Pretty much everyone. The d20 rules specifically encourage this, by giving reinforced and armored greatcoats Damage Reduction (something that's otherwise very hard to get without magic) and allowing their protective benefits to stack with light armor; as a result, the combination of armored greatcoat and chain shirt is one of the most effective, and therefore most popular, non-magical armor choices in the game.
  • Badass Lolita: The Harbinger of Menoth was fifteen when she was discovered by the scrutators. She is for all intent and purpose the angel of Menoth, and as such wields tremendous divine powers.
  • Bald of Awesome:
    • The Butcher of Khardov. Able to scrap a Warjack with relative ease. Tougher than most non-Khador 'Jacks. He got his name by slaughtering the entire militia of the village of Boarsgate, as well as the troops he brought with him. By the time he was finished, the rats had to jump from body to body to avoid drowning in the blood.
    • Also, Baldur the Stonecleaver/Stonesoul - a druid so good at making living golems that his masterwork actually has limited sentience and regenerates. Lets not forget that he hates Everblight so much that he came back from the dead just to punch more abominations in the face.
  • Bald Of Well Intentioned Extremism: Most of the Retribution of Scryah's basic troops and several of their commanders.
  • Beast Man: The Tharn are an entire species of beast men and women.
  • Beast of Battle: The entire point of Hordes' Warbeasts, with many other examples besides.
  • Belief Makes You Stupid: Averted and subverted with many of the faiths in this game.
  • Berserk Button: Orsus Zoktavir is Berserk as it is, but if he ever finds out you hurt a woman, he will END you.
  • BFG: The Commodore, a massive ship's cannon owned by Phinneas Shae. Capable of holing any ship of the line, it is wheeled onto shore by sheer man-power, and the force of its blasts can send warjacks flying yards back at extreme ranges... and then there are its other ammo types. Add to this that a man was executed by being tied to the barrel of the cannon and broken from the sheer force of the cannon's repeated fire and that, except for his legs, his skeleton still hangs from the barrel, and...
  • BFS: Many, many examples. Cygnarans in particular often wield variants of the Caspian battleblade, whose blade can be upwards of a foot wide at its widest point. Cygnar also has a fair number of big friggin' hammers, while Khadorans often carry big friggin' axes, and a great many Menites wield big friggin' maces. And that's before you get to the melee weapons the 'jacks and warbeasts wield.
    • Bonus points to Tyrant Xerxis, who dual wields a pair of big friggin' maces so heavy most skorne can't lift even one of them.
  • Big Badass Wolf: Laris, Warpwolves, and Argi.
  • Big Eater: Pygmy Trolls and Trollkin are known for their big appetites. Full Blood Trolls and Dire Trolls are known for their insatiable appetites.
  • Bigger Is Better: Khador is suffering from a shortage of critical components used to create cortexes (magical brains which are required to create a warjack). This leads them to build warjacks that are very heavily armed and armored so that they won't have to replace them as often.
  • Black Magic: Anything related to Dragons, Thamar, or Infernal cults.
  • Blade on a Stick: Most factions have an example of this trope, though the most note-worthy would probably be:
    • Cygnar - The Storm Guard's halberds can discharge a bolt of electricity after hitting you.
    • Khador - The Iron Fang Pikemen carry around lances which can explode upon impact.
    • Menoth - The Temple Flame Guard can set things on fire by stabbing them with their spears.
  • Body Horror:
    • Much of what the disembodied dragon Everblight is doing to the Nyss elves, but particularly the Forsaken, the Grotesques, and the Incubi.
    • Absylonia, so very, very much. She even has a spell called Playing God that warps and twists the beasts under her command. Also she has Carnivore, a spell which lets any model or group of troops get a lot better at hitting living models. If they happen to kill something, they eat it. They eat it so hard they eat its soul, but Absylonia's stomach gets full.
      • The Nephilim war beasts as well, they're not blood spawn like other Legion beasts, they're brithed by Nyss women.
    • The Spell Martyrs. Dear God, the Spell Martyrs.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Borka Kegslayer. Captain Bartolo "Broadsides Bart" Montador.
  • Bond Creatures: Warbeasts and warjacks.
  • Brainwashed: This is what will happen to you should you ever be caught by a Cephalyx.
  • Breath Weapon: Many Legion of Everblight Warbeasts and the recently transformed Thagrosh employ blighted breath as a primary weapon.
  • The Brute: General Gerlak Slaughterborn.
  • Burn the Witch: The Protectorate's favored method of executing heretics is by burning them at the stake.
  • The Butcher: That of Khardov, Orsus Zoktavir.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Rutger Shaw to Taryn Di La Rovissi.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: Because they will probably kill you if you do.
  • Captain Ersatz : Many, usually folk characters
    • The Old Witch, Khador's own Baba Yaga, complete with chicken legged personal robot.
    • Morvanah the Autumnblade, twin sister to Morgan Le Fay
    • Siege Brisbane, bears a striking resembalance to a certain hammer weilding railroad worker.
    • Captain Damiano, Don Quixote, right down to the name of his personal jack.
  • Chained by Fashion: Several Dire Trolls and the Khadoran warjack, Drago.
  • Chainsaw Good: The Renegade light warjack.
    • Also the Bombardier Man O Wars. Their chainsaws also shoot GRENADES!
  • Chain Lightning: A signature anti-infantry spell for those with any connection to electricity.
  • Chainmail Bikini: A number of examples, particularly among the Cryx. It has been expressly stated that the satyxis wear revealing armor in order to throw male opponents off guard.
  • The Chessmaster: Toruk. It's constantly hinted at in the backstory that Toruk has a grand scheme to take back his athancs and conquer the world. The details of this plan, however, are extremely vague and the only thing we know for sure is that he is biding his time until the proper moment.
    • The vagueness of the plan could just be his fanatical followers' refusal to accept that he isn't as omniscient as they think he is. His Chessmaster status is still something of an Informed Ability.
    • Everblight also likes to think of himself as a better Chessmaster than his father.
  • Church Militant: The Protectorate of Menoth, an entire nation of mask-wearing Knights Templar.
  • Coat, Hat, Mask: Gorman di Wulfe.
  • Cold Sniper: Grim Angus, Kell Balioch, Khadoran Widowmakers and Retribution Ghost Snipers.
    • Subverted with Kara Sloan, a Cygnar warcaster who holds herself apart from her troops to compensate for her guilt over being in an intimate relationship with one of her junior officers.
  • The Collector of the Strange: The Totem Hunter takes trophies from certain defeated enemies in order to make himself stronger through some kind of magic.
  • Combat Tentacles: The Thrullg, the Legion warbeast Proteus, and the Throne of Everblight.
  • Combat Medic: The aptly named Doc Killingsworth.
    • "Get up and walk it off, son [...] Those knives have seen more men than a Five Fingers madam."
  • The Corruption: Blight, as it is called in the Iron Kingdoms, is projected from Dragons and is responsible for many terrible things like:
    • Everything in Everblight's hosts, from their rabid land sharks to their ginormous betentacled flying death platforms.
    • The Satyxis, a race of amyzonian satyr ladies blighted by generations of rainfall from the Dragonfather.
    • The Bloodgorgers, blighted Trollkin that serve the Dragonfather.
  • Credits Gag: Each new expansion and the core rule books have one at the end of every copyright statement.
  • Critical Hit: While not universal, a great many weapons in the game have special effects if one rolls doubles on a to-hit roll, ranging from useless to game breaking.
  • Critical Failure: Even if it is mathematically impossible for you to miss, if the dice turn up all 1's, you miss. Period.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Every Satyxis, though "Sexy Monster Woman" would be more accurate.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Lord Commander Stryker's armor can fry him, but grants him a strength boost.
  • Death Seeker: Gudrun the Wanderer.
  • Defeat Means Obedience Before The Will Of The Supreme Archdominar
  • Deflector Shields: One of the unique features on the Myrmidons of the Retribution.
  • Deity of Human Origin: Morrow and Thamar, who are NG and NE, respectively. Neither is as big of a jerk as Menoth (Thamar is more self-centered then anything else).
  • Determinator: Asheth Magnus. See The Unfettered, below.
  • Devil in Plain Sight: Toruk has taken up residence atop the highest peak in Cryx, mobilized an army of the undead and is actively trying to implement a far reaching plan that centers around taking over the world. Everyone knows he is there, though his centuries of seeming inactivity and the fact that he is akin to godhood in terms of power have dissuaded the peoples of Western Immoren from trying to get rid of him.
  • Diving Save: The "Self Sacrifice/Sacrificial Pawn" rule on some units/models in the minis game.
  • Dodge the Bullet: Some warcasters/locks actually have a spell called "Bullet Dodger." Guess what it does?
  • Drop the Hammer: Several examples, though the most prominent ones include Marcus "Siege" Brisbane and the Ironclad warjack.
  • Dual-Wielding: Pre-Epic Vlad, most Skorne swordsmen and women (including Makeda), many warjacks, and Trollkin Champions, among others.
  • Egomaniac Hunter: Alten Ashley is the most famous and skillful monster hunter to ever walk Western Immoren. A fact he is quite plainly aware of and eager to tell anyone he meets.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The dragons and whatever they can create/influence. For dragons, see Our Dragons Are Different below. In particular, the battle engine Throne of Everblight looks like... this.
  • Elves vs. Dwarves: Fairly common amongst the various factions, most explicitly between the steampunk-inspired WARMACHINE factions and the Primal Powers of HORDES. Amusingly enough, averted by the setting's actual elves and dwarves: the elves hate everyone, while the dwarves don't feel particularly strongly one way or the other.
  • Epic Flail:
    • High Exemplar Gravus has himself a flail with four heads and Kreoss had one when he was High Exemplar. One of the Weapon of Choice of Menite forces.
    • Also, the Bouncer warbeast and Templar and Mangler heavy warjacks all wield over-sized flails in combat.
  • The Empire: The Skorne Empire and the New Khadoran Empire, after its invasion of Llael. This is also how denizens of the Protectorate see Cygnar.
  • The Emperor: Empress Ann of the New Khadoran Empire, and Archdomina Makeda of the Skorne Empire (after she overthrew Vinter Raelthorn).
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys: Mr. Walls has a little monkey companion that helps distract his enemies in melee combat.
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: Brun Cragback is a powerful mercenary Warlock that is accompanied by his friend Lug. Who is an enormous, bad-tempered Polar Bear.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: The addition of doom reavers to standard military forces has prompted more level-headed Khadorans to reassert that Orgoth artifacts are too dangerous and best left to the past.
  • Evil Is Sexy: An in-universe example in the Cryxian Warwitch Sirens, who have actually weaponized their sexiness.
  • Evil Twin: Captain (later Major) Victoria Haley and War Witch (later Wraith Witch) Deneghra, formerly known as Gloria Haley. Guess which one's the evil one.
  • Evilutionary Biologist:
    • Everblight revels in experimenting on lifeforms to continually improve his blight-enhanced soldiers and blight-born dragonspawns, and considers himself an artist and a creator. He is notably fascinated by the elves whom he studied for centuries, unfortunately for them.
    • The mysterious Cephalyx also qualify.
  • Evil Versus Evil:
    • Terminus and company vs. Asphyxious and company.
    • Toruk vs. all his children.
    • Vinter Raelthorn vs. Makeda and company.
    • At the end of Metamorphosis, Kruger the Stormlord informs the dragon Blighterghast that his sibling, Everblight, is raising an army and intends to kill every other dragon and absorb their athancs, the source of draconic power that every dragon has in place of a heart. This disturbs Blighterghast greatly and he flies off, presumably to gather other dragons to put Everblight down.
  • Evil Weapon : As befits Orgoth creations, the fellblades unearthed by the Grey Lords of Khador have a nasty tendency to whisper to the mind of those who wield them, driving them to bloodthirsty madness and turning them into hulking muscle-bound killers. Despite, or perhaps because of their tendency to blindly slaughter whatever happens to be in their way, Khador military uses those Doom Reavers as suicidal shocktroopers.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Long Gunners, Gun Mages, Sword Knights and just about every other type of soldier that comes out of Cygnar.
    • Every unit of the Steelhead Mercenary Company. Even their upcoming warcaster's title is Steelhead Warcaster.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Trolls can and will eat anything. The Slag Troll, for instance, subsists by eating metal ore.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Vinter sports one and Skorne extollers ritually cut out an eye and replace it with fancy Green Rocks.
  • Faction Calculus: While factions have begun to bleed together due to sheer quantity of models, there are still signs of diversity.
  • Fantastic Racism: Trollkin, Ogruns, and Gobbers are sometimes viewed as second class citizens by the human dominated kingdoms of Western Immoren.
    • Then again the above listed minorities, elves and dwarves of Immoren all have their own communities where other races are not always particularly welcome...
    • If you're from Llael, chances are you hate, hate, hate Khador. Justified, in that you've been unhappily occupied by them for years. Chances are, you're not too happy with the Protectorate doing the same thing.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Khador is unapologetically the Immoren equivalent of Russia and Eastern Europe, Cygnarans are basically Americans with British accents, Llael is France, Idrians (the original inhabitants of the lands south of Cygnar, before the Protectorate was formed there) are Middle Easterners, the Trollbloods are Celtic, the Skorne are Japanese (when it comes to their armor, iconography and language) with a few signs of Persian Empire, and the Gatormen are stereotypically Louisianian (complete with Cajun accents and voodoo priests).
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: The Retribution's House Vyre myrmidons.
  • Fat Bastard: Dominar Rasheth. For extra bastard points, he's carried into battle by a team of Agonizers, which are basically baby elephants subjected to such cruel treatments that they are surrounded by an aura of tangible pain.
    • He's so bad even the other Skorne hate him.
  • Fearless Undead: A model with the undead special rule can never flee due to other models with the Terror/Abomination special rule or due to taking heavy casualties.
  • Five Races: Humans are Mundane, elves are Fairies, gobbers are Cute (when they want to be), and dwarves, trollkin and ogrun all have their own unique way of being Stout.
  • Flaming Sword: Paladins of the Wall carry around swords called Fire Brands, which can cause an enemy to catch on fire if they are hit hard enough.
    • The upcoming Exemplar Cinerators have giant swords... with FLAMETHROWER NOZZLES ON THEM.
  • Flesh Versus Steel: When WARMACHINE meets HORDES.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: Ride By attacks for Cavalry models and Trample power attacks.
  • Fortune Teller: Calandra Truthsayer.
  • Friend to All Children: Strangely this is a trait developed by a Warjack Rociante of all things.
  • Full Boar Action: The farrow, with the War Hog being the most extreme example.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Prolific throughout the setting, with amateurs usually referred to as "bodgers" and experts referred to as "mechaniks." Notable GGs include E. Dominic Darius, Sebastian Nemo, Dirty Meg, Thor Stienhammer and Arian Strangewayes.
    • Add magic and you've got "Arcane Mechaniks," which make-up the majority of Mercenary Warcasters, Master Necrotech Mortenebra, E. Dominic Darius, and several others.
  • Gatling Good: The Cygnaran chaingun, used by Trencher infantry as a support weapon and by the Sentinel warjack as its primary armament.
  • Gentle Giant: Harkevich's beard and sheer bulk is intimidating, but he is a Papa Wolf to his men and the civilians that he is protecting. Truly fitting of the title "Iron Wolf"
  • Ghost Pirate: The Cryxian Revenants. Complete with their own Ghost Ships.
  • A God Am I: Lord Toruk (and by D&D standards, he is).
  • God Is Dead: Some Iosians hold out no hope of their gods and goddesses returning or getting better (or being recovered, in the case of Nyssor).
  • The Gods Must Be Lazy: Averted. Every deity in the Iron Kingdoms has had some kind of interaction with the world at some point or another and many of them still do have direct dealings with their worshipers.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: A great many Cygnaran characters wear goggles, which have no effect in the strategy game (and a fairly minor effect in the roleplaying game). In their defense, most of them also work in situations (IE, around steam-powered fighting robots that have a tendency to emit sparks and shrapnel) where goggles would be a good idea.
    • Subverted with trollkin bounty hunter Grim Angus, whose Alchemical Goggles allow him to see invisible enemies.
    • Also subverted with Khadoran Warcaster Kommander Strakhov and his Assault Kommandoes, who can see right through gas and cloud effects.
  • Grass Is Greener: A constant source of Warmachine vs Hordes debates, and the primary reason for people investing in multiple factions.
  • Grim Up North: Especially now that Everblight has woken up.
  • Gun Fu: Allister Caine is all over this trope. To a lesser extent, so are the unnamed Gun Mages, pistoleers who use magic to augment their weapons and their fighting abilities.
    • The game itself has a special rule Gunfighter, which means that the character can use a ranged weapon at close combat. Obviously, a gun wielder who has Gunfighter can be thought to practise Gun Fu.
  • Guns Akimbo: Allister Caine, Garryth, Master Holt, Taryn Di La Rovissi and Pistol Wraiths.
  • Guns Are Worthless: In order to encourage melee over ranged combat, many guns in the game are short ranged, require focus/fury to pump additional shots, or have accuracy lower than melee attacks. Melee only armies will still get hosed though.
  • Hand Cannon: Common firearm for models, often found across multiple armies. Common to the point where every POW 12 is described as a handcannon.
  • Handsome Lech: Lieutenant Allister Caine of Cygnar. He also exhibits some strong Jerkass tendencies—specifically, a tendency to sleep with men's wives and then use his super-speed powers to shoot them dead in the ensuing duel. It is eventually revealed, however, that much of his behavior is a very specific form of Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • Healing Factor: The troll faction shtick. Large chunks that don't get reattached quickly grow into degenerate miniature trolls called whelps, with the part they grew out of being bigger than the rest of the body.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Averted strongly by the Protectorate of Menoth, where every single warcaster character has face protecting/obscuring gear.
    • Also averted by Durgen Madhammer, who likely wouldn't survive repeated use of the detonation feature in his hammer without his helmet.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: It's actually a she in this setting: Alexia Ciannor carries around a sword which contains her dead mother's soul. Her mother is able to talk to Alexia telepathically and never seems to shut up....
  • Heroic Albino: Madrak Ironhinde, and to a lesser extent, Grim Angus.
  • Heroic Lineage: Vladimir Tzepeci.
  • Heroic Resolve: MANY characters demonstrate this both in the story and the actual games.
  • Hidden Elf Village: The elven nation of Ios.
  • Hidden Eyes: Mohsar and Lylyth.
  • Hollywood Acid: Cryx Sludge weapons, and any weapon with the "Corrosion Damage" trait.
  • A House Divided: Every faction in the game has some kind of in-fighting going on at all times.
  • Horse of a Different Color : Averted and Played Straight, humans and elves ride horses, other races ride bison, wolves, hairless sabertooths, and worse.
  • Humanity Is Superior: One of the main tenets of the Church of Menoth.
  • Humongous Mecha: Colossi. One of the rare cases where giant mecha actually were abandoned for being too large and impractical. They were replaced by the smaller, semi-autonomous Warjacks.
    • Due to the arms race between Western Immoren's warring factions, Colossals are back ! However, the concept has been revisited with all the technological progress made since their ancient incarnations to suit the needs of modern warfare. They are no longer mere giant-sized versions of existing warjacks, but dedicated weapon platforms equipped for heavy suppression fire and still able to mow down infantry by the dozen in a sweep of their fists.
  • Hyperactive Metabolism: Dire Trolls exemplify this trope.
  • I Call It Vera: Just about every single distinguished warrior/soldier in the Iron Kingdoms has a named weapon. The Butcher of Khardov's axe is named Lola, Lanyssa Ryssyl has a sword named Sorrow, Borka Kegslayer's mace is named Trauma, the list goes on and on.
  • I Can Still Fight: Any model with the Tough special rule.
  • An Ice Person: Vayl, Disciple and Consul of Everblight.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Arcane Mechaniks tend to go into battle wielding an absurdly large wrench, which is ostensibly intended for use in warjack repair. Cryxian satyxis troops wield bladed, hooked whips (somewhat similar in appearance to Ivy's weapon in Soulcalibur), which in real life would be both insanely difficult to wield and insanely hazardous to the wielder's health.
    • And now in addition to these fine examples we have the Mage Hunter Assassin, wielding an over-sized scimitar attached to an eight to ten foot length of chain. Their preferred method of attack? They whip their targets at the chain's full length. This gives the model four inches of reach when attacking, in a game where pole-arms only give two inches of reach.
  • Instant Runes: A hallmark of magic in the Iron Kingdoms, as depicted the artwork in Mk.II.
  • Jerkass Gods: Menoth big time; this is the reason why most humans stopped worshiping him. His remaining followers, however, see him more as a stern father who doesn't want to baby his kids forever.
  • Kill It with Fire: The Protectorate loves to employ flame based weaponry and many of their warcasters have fire based spells and abilities.
  • Killed Off for Real: Both averted and played straight. The creative director, Matt Willson, has stated many times that he and the rest of the creative team have no intention of killing off any of the named characters in the story if they already have a model for them that can be used in the minis game. If you don't have a mini, however...
  • Klingon Promotion: After the death of Makeda's grandfather, her father took control of House Balaash. Her brother assassinated their father, and then Makeda assassinated her brother.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Commander Coleman Stryker's original personality. After a Heroic BSOD (and a promotion to Lord Commander), he became more like a Knight Templar. Ironically, he then got a suit of electrical armor that literally shines.
    • Precursor Knights qualify for this trope.
    • As do Mikael Kreoss, the Khadoran-born Menite leader of the Knights Exemplar, and the Paladins of the Order of the Wall.
  • La Résistance: Llael has one.
  • Lady of War: Pretty much every female warcaster.
  • Lightning Bruiser:
    • Lord Commander Coleman Stryker is quite tough even by warcaster standards, can overload his warcaster armor to reach absurd levels of hitting power and can magically enhance his mobility ; as a result, he is essentially a one-man homing missile generally aimed at the enemy leader for a quick and brutal victory.
    • On a less extreme level, Paladins of the Order of the Wall are this when they don't assume their special stances (see Stone Wall).
    • The spell Engine of Destruction provides a hefty boost to the warcaster's melee power and speed on top of their above average defensive statline.
  • Lightning Can Do Anything: Cygnar can use it as artillery, a steroid, magnetic shield, and a tractor beam.
  • Lightning Gun: Cygnar exclusive.
  • Little People: Gobbers.
  • Lizard Folk: The Gatormen (alligators) and Anuras/"Croaks" (frogs).
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: The minis game has 53 warcasters (not including variations, and including the three-character Witch Coven) and 34 warlocks (as of the release of Wrath), all of whom have have shown up in the story at one point or another . There are even more non-warcaster/lock characters whom show up in the story, though they tend to have less of an influence on the plot. The RPG has even more characters than its mini counterpart (obviously).
  • Mad Doctor: Dr. Arkadius.
  • Mad Scientist: Sebastian Nemo, right down to the crazy hair and the obsession with Tesla coils.
  • Made of Iron: Warjacks, warbeasts, ogrun, Khadoran Man-O-Wars, and Trolls of all kinds.
  • The Mafiya: The Khadoran Kayazy. They are wealthy tycoons all too willing to resort to violence to deal with the cut-throat competition ; as they take interest in the conflict, they lend hired elite assassins to Khadoran forces to "protect their investments".
  • Magic Is Evil : One of the teachings of Menoth, and consequently a hallmark of the Protectorate's worldview. They resorted to use mechanika only by adding extensive purification rituals, such as engraving prayers of penance and passages of the True Law into 'jack hulls to sanctify them. Their arcane engineers are considered guilty of blasphemous witchcraft and treated as slaves, but kept alive because their talents are much needed and in scarce supply.
  • Magic Knight: Many warcasters and warlocks qualify as this, as do some other non-warcaster/lock named characters.
  • Magic Misfire: Averted. A vast majority of spells in the game carry no penalty for casting them. You just spend the focus/fury required for casting them, and then they are cast. Sometimes you need to roll to hit an enemy model, but there is almost never any chance that a spell will backfire and blow up in your face.
    • Played straight in the RPG, however, particularly with regards to healing magic and especially with regards to resurrection magic. Death Is Not Cheap in the Iron Kingdoms.
  • Magitek: "Mechanika." So common, it's the technology that doesn't run on magic that's considered cutting-edge.
  • Magma Man: Rhulic mercenary warcaster Gorten Grundback takes this trope quite seriously, and is essentially a walking Lethal Lava Land for opponents to overcome. Add to this that he summons up walls of rock for he and his troops to hide behind, can shield his entire army from most splash damage and falling prone, and is nearly impossible to kill.
  • Man in the Machine: Khadoran warcaster Karchev the Terrible is the Trope Namer.
  • Mars Needs Women: Inverted by the satyxis, who seek out human men worthy enough to sire their dragon-blighted children. Played straight (and then some) with a Boomhowler, a Trollkin who happens to be quite popular with the ladies of all species.
  • Meaningful Name: The liches of Cryx seem to have this one down pat, Asphyxious (asphyxia, suffocating) and Terminus (the end/limit of something) being two examples.
  • Mechanical Monster: the Deathjack is rumoured to be an ancient Orgoth construct, and is gifted with a form of malevolent sentience and the ability to cast necromantic spells. Its furnace doesn't run on necrotite like ordinary helljacks ; the Deathjack is powered by raw souls, and used to roam Immoren slaughtering entire villages to fuel its hunger. Certainly the most feared model on the tabletop.
  • Metaplot: One of the few examples out there in which the metaplot has had less effect on the RPG than it has on the tabletop games.
  • Mons: Warjacks in WARMACHINE and warbeasts in HORDES. Sort of.
  • More Dakka: Of the Napoleonic infantry line variety, mostly, in the form of combined ranged attacks (which give even basic infantry a chance of taking down big things like warjacks and warbeasts). Cygnar's higher tech level allows it to field the more traditional variety.
    • The Dire Troll Blitzer also qualifies for this trope.
  • More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Every warbeast from the Legion of Everblight.
  • Monochromatic Eyes: Trolls/Trollkin, Skorne, some Elves and several other species have white pupils and corneas.
  • Mother Russia Makes You Strong: The inhabitants of the snowy land of Khador are known for their rugged, relentless and even brutish nature. Their military goes a long way in reflecting this.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Madrak Ironhide the World Ender, Hoarluk Doomshaper, Krueger the Stormwrath, Kromac the Ravenous, The Butcher of Khardov, Karchev the Terrible, High Executioner Servath Reznik and pretty much everyone from the Skorne and Cryx factions.
  • Nature Hero: Pretty much everyone from the Circle of Orboros.
  • Nay Theist: The skorne know that gods exist. They just don't have any of their own, and view worshiping gods as a weakness, and in fact, held the Iosans' dependence on their gods against them for several millenia before the current storyline.
  • The Necrocracy: Cryx is an extreme example of a Type I necrocracy (though there are some living subjects, they are all just as evil and kill-crazy as their necrotic counterparts).
  • Nerf: Since this is a miniatures game, nerfs inevitably happened to many models during the transition to Warmachine/Hordes Mk.II. The consensus is that the second edition is largely balanced, with Privateer Press designing subsequent additions to the game to adjust things without modifying preexisting rules and models.
  • Nice Hat: Lots of people have one, but Supreme Archdomina Makeda's has to take the cake.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
    • Not all four in one, yet, but Pirate Zombies, Zombie Robots, Pirate Robots, and Pirate Zombie Robots can all be found in the Iron Kingdoms, mostly Cryx. (Those ninja that do exist in the setting tend to be elves, rather than pirates, zombies, or robots.)
    • On the other hand, the nation of Cryx, home of the Pirate Zombie Robots and variations thereof, utilizes lots of stealthy, fast, and assassination-oriented strategies. Almost like a... gamer playing Assassin's Creed.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Vlad Tepes, prince of Wallachia => Vlad Tzepesci, prince of Umbrey. Khador!Vlad even has a spell called "Impaler."
    • Tzepesci is also the romanization of the Russian word for "impale."
      • And also the russification of the Romanian word for "impaler."
  • Obviously Evil: Dragons.
  • Older Than They Look: The Old Witch has been alive since before the Orgoth invasion, Karchev is over 100, and many female casters have fabulous figures and faces despite many of them pushing 30 or more in constant war conditions.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Being Zombie Robots controlled by an Eldritch Abomination, the Cryx qualifies as an entire race of omnicidal maniacs. The Skorne and the Protectorate aren't far behind, if you're not part of their Warrior Guy/Knight Templar hats respectively.
    • The mercenary 'Minion' Brun Cragback is specifically described as this, and "would rather kill a man than endure a lengthy conversation" with him.
  • One-Gender Race: The satyxis are all female. Males are occasionally born to the line, but every one is quickly killed—and, whenever possible, so is the man who fathered the child.
  • One Steve Limit: Averted. Dawnlord Vyros and Eldritch Lord Vyros frequently cause confusion when new players discover them. It doesn't help that both of them are elves from the same nation.
    • Played straight with Oleg/Viktor Strakhov, due to the pre-existing Viktor Pendrake.
  • Ouroboros: the Circle of Orboros and the Devourer Wurm.
  • Order Versus Chaos:
    • The Entire Civilized World versus the Circle of Orboros.
    • Menoth vs the Devourer Wurm.
  • Our Monsters Are Different: Unique takes on a number of fantasy creatures:
    • All Trolls Are Different: Trolls in the Iron Kingdoms are generally split into four categories (Full Blood, Pygmy, Dire, and Trollkin), but all of them adhere to a few basic distinguishing features including thick and hairless skin, four fingers and toes, no noses, short spines growing out of their heads and rock like stubble that pokes out of various places on their bodies.
    • Our Angels Are Different: The Angelus and Seraphim are angels In Name Only; they are just as monstrous as the rest of Everblight's warbeasts.
    • Our Dragons Are Different: At the Eldritch Abomination level; a dragon's true form is just a sentient crystal called an athanc, but this crystal possesses nigh-Reality Warper powers.
    • Our Dwarves Are Different: Apart from being gun-wielding, mecha-commanding little lunatics, the dwarves of Rhul often have no beards.
    • Our Elves Are Better: They're Animesque religious zealots in shining white Magitek armor. Some even have beards!
    • Our Werewolves Are Different: The Circle's Warpwolves are more protean than most: in addition to shifting from human to wolf forms, they can also mutate themselves to be stronger, faster, or tougher from moment to moment.
  • Overly Long Name: Lord Carver, BMMD, Esquire, The Third. What does BMMD stand for, you ask? Why, "Bringer of Most Massive Destruction," of course!
  • Personality Chip: While not purposely installed, warjacks who remain in service to certain warcasters long enough will pick up personality quirks.
  • Physical God: Toruk, to his benefit, and the two remaining elven gods, to their detriment.
  • Pig Man: The Farrow, full hog.
  • Pirate: Lots and lots of them, mostly in the Cryx and Mercenary factions. It was to be expected, what with the company being called "Privateer Press" and all. The expansion Pirates of the Broken Coast actually allows WARMACHINE generals to field entire pirate armies.
  • Pirate Girl: The Satyxis are a whole island-nation of Sexy Monster Pirate Girls, of whom the best known is the Pirate Queen and Cryx warcaster Skarre Ravenmane.
  • Powered Armor: The magical steam-powered armor worn by warcasters, and the more mundane (and generally larger) version worn by some elite Khadoran troops.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Most Cryxian magic is powered by the captured souls of slain foes.
  • Power Fist: Asheth Magnus has himself one of these.
  • Power Gives You Wings: Thagrosh, in his upgraded Messianic form.
  • Power of Rock: There are several things in the game which use music or their voices (the Piper of Ord, Fell Callers, etc.) to buff their friends or de-buff their enemies.
  • Private Military Contractors: WARMACHINE has an entire Mercenary pseudo-faction (Privateer Press has stated on many occasions that Mercenaries are not an offical faction, despite the fact that they can be taken to tournaments by themselves) with contracts dictating what kinds of warcasters/soldiers will work with the other factions and each other. The Minions pseudo-faction in HORDES is now receiving the same treatment.
    • Example: Aseth Magnus is an ex-Cygnaran traitor, so he can't be included in a Cygnaran army. He can be included in a Khadoran, a Protectorate or a Cryxian army, or he can be in an army comprised entirely of Mercenaries that will work for him.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: The skorne's hat. Also, the Totem Hunter.
  • Psycho for Hire: Some of the named characters from the Mercenary and Minions factions.
  • Public Domain Character: Dracula (sort of).
  • Punk Punk: Steampunk + Dungeon Punk = "Full Metal Fantasy."
  • Rain of Blood: The women of Stayxis were corrupted and changed when Toruk killed one of his offspring in an aerial battle above their homeland. The dragon's blood rained down on them and turned them into the evil she-devils they are today.
  • Random Number God: Mercenary warcaster Ashlynn De'Elyse has one on call. Her feat, Roulette, adds two dice to each roll any model makes to determine whether they will hit something with an attack, and then takes any two of those dice away from the roll. Suddenly, all of her models are nearly automatically hitting and pumping out critical effects, and all of the opponents' models are always missing by a thread.
    • This is pretty much Calandra Truthsayer's defining quality. Her feat lets her troops reroll 1's and 2's on attacks, she lets her army spend her fury for rerolls, and she has a spell that makes enemies roll an extra die and remove the highest. She's all about getting some control over the RNG to swing the dice in your favor.
  • Reality Warper: Victoria Haley.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Leto Raelthorn, Baulder, Madrak Ironhide, Irusk, Vladimir, and a few more.
  • Reign of Terror: Vinter Raelthorn is not known for being a benevolent ruler. He's so ruthless that the Skorne overthrew him when they figured out he was only using them as stepping-stones to get his old kingdom back.
  • Religion of Evil: The Cult of Thamar and dragon worship.
  • Robot War: The main reason people pick up this game is for the giant robots to make the war upon one another.
  • Rule of Cool: Prevalent throughout the entire game and setting.
  • Scary Black Man: Doc Killingsworth, Markus 'Siege' Brisbane
  • Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The skorne, of the "aliens as conquistadores" variety. To be fair, the main reason for this behavior is that the playable skorne faction is currently being led by a deposed Cygnaran king who wants his throne back; still, that doesn't change the fact that the skorne are pretty damn scary even without the "conquering invader" aspect.
  • Schizo-Tech: Depending on where in Immoren you are at the moment, the tech level varies from medieval to Industrial Revolution to World War I.
  • Screaming Warrior: Trollkin Fell Callers.
  • Screw You, Elves: Privateer Press really seems to have it in for elves:
    • If you are one of the 10% of Nyss elves that hasn't been infected by Everblight's blight yet, then you are in hiding while mourning for those who have.
    • If you are an Iosian elf then you are desperately trying to find a way to cure your last ailing deity before she dies of a mysterious illness thus dooming you and your kinsmen forever.
  • Separated at Birth: Well, separated at "very young". Captain Victoria Haley doesn't know that her archenemy, Warwitch Deneghra, is actually her twin sister Gloria, stolen at age 5 by the Cryx raiders who killed their parents.
  • Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: Going by the miniature scale of one inch = five feet, most rifles have a range of 50–70 feet. The artillery's not much better.
  • Scatterguns Are Just Better: Asheth Magnus certainly thinks so, as does Bartolo Montador, whose scattergun is built into his left arm, and it's hard to argue. They have decent range, and ignore a great deal of conventional defensive abilities.
    • Lord Carver even carries a Sawed Off Scattergun into battle.
    • Grundback Blasters are small Rhulic warjacks that are designed to bound across the field and lay into troop waves with what are essentially huge Gatling Scatterguns. They're extremely effective.
    • The exception being the actual Trollkin Scattergunners, who despite being an entire unit wielding the things, are pretty much universally reviled.
  • Shoulders of Doom: A number of models exhibit these, but Epic Kreoss and especially Epic Vlad have particularly ridiculous examples.
  • Shout-Out: Privateer Press modeled Grim Angus (a Trollblood warlock) after lyrics from a Front 242 song called "Headhunter."
    • The Totem Hunter is just a way to get the Predator into the game.
  • Sickly Green Glow: Anything Cryxian.
  • Sinister Scythe: Moshar the Desertwalker has himself a very nasty looking scythe.
    • The Cryx warcaster Scaverous does him one better, with a chainsaw scythe.
    • Kommander Sorscha has one that freezes folks when hit with it.
  • Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: Warjacks in the Iron Kingdoms range from enormous Bricks in most cases to Robo-Monkeys on the Cygnaran/Cryxian end of things... before warcasters, high-level mechanikal engineering, gods and/or age get involved. Most warjacks are capable of high-functioning Robo-Monkey levels under a warcaster's direction, and the more time spent with their warcasters, the more likely a warjack is to form a personal bond as the warjack's cortex adapts to the warcaster's mind.
    • Character 'jacks have also emerged, either from bonded warjacks sticking around for a very long time ala Sorscha's Beast 0-9, or being personally built, ala Lich Lord Asphyxious' Cankerworm.
      • They're actually so potent that Machine Wraiths, Cryxian ghosties specialized in warjack possession, can't manipulate their cortices.
  • Spider Tank: The Cryxian Leviathan and Harrower warjacks, and the Cygnar Storm Strider. To a lesser extent, the Retribution of Scyrah's Arcantrik Force Generator, which vaguely resembles a crab.
  • Soul Jar: Cryxian Soul Cages.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Vladimir and Sorscha.
  • Stone Wall:
    • Paladins of the Order of the Wall can forfeit their movement or action to enter the aptly named Stone-and-Mortar stance, which bumps their armor into the high end of heavy warjack numbers.
    • High Paladin Dartan Vilmon takes it to a whole new level with his Impervious Wall stance ; for the same cost, he becomes immune to knockdowns and non-magical attacks. Combine the two and he can neither move nor attack, but he will hold his position against a small army.
  • Sword and Gun: Coleman Stryker, Ashlynn d'Elyse, Phinneus Shae, and Bartolo Montador.
  • Take Cover: Most types of terrain offer bonuses to models that make them harder to hit with ranged and usually magic attacks.
  • Tank Goodness: The Khador Gun Carriage is essentially a horse-drawn tank.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Durgen Madhammer swears by this trope. He pushes his warjacks and can turn entire groups of troops into blood-thirsty pressure-sensitive walking bombs. He has also designed an artillery cannon mounted at the fore-arm that can fire cluster shells that can spread dozens of yards from the point of impact (like back onto your front lines), wields a giant hammer whose head detonates on contact, and wears a suit of blast armor that takes explosive force and turns it into arcane energy. Unsurprisingly, his feat compounds this dangerously for every friendly weapon in his general vicinity with a shockwave.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: When learning to play Warmachine/Hordes, if you can't get into this mind-set, be prepared for numerous moments of complete failure. The more accepting you are of this, the more satisfying it is when you finally find your niche. The less comfortable you are with loss, the more likely you are to turn into someone who completely misses the point of playing games.
  • Throw-Away Guns: Mr. Walls likes to have an assortment of one-shot pistols strapped to his chest whenever possible.
  • Turn Undead: Some things in the minis game and RPG have abilites to do extra damage to the undead (such as Precursor Knights).
  • To the Pain: Skorne society has an entire caste (appropriately known as Paingivers) devoted to this concept.
  • The Undead: Pretty much half the army of the nation of Cryx; the other half consists mostly of pirates and creepy, death-themed warjacks.
  • The Unfettered: Asheth Magnus. He has developed quite the track record over the years as he tries to get one of the most reviled Cygnaran kings back on the throne.
  • Vain Sorceress: Morvahna.
  • The Virus: Prolonged exposure to dragon blight of any kind will enventually turn you into a mutated mockery of what you once were.
  • The Voiceless: Protectorate Reclaimers are all required to take a vow of silence.
  • We Have Reserves: Go ahead and destroy as many of the Cryxian robot-zombies as you want. They can always make more. Out of the tattered corpses of your own fallen warriors. And their gear. And their own casualties. And the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. And some dead guys they stumbled across last week. Better yet, just start running for your lives now.
  • Weird Science: Not much of the technology in the Iron Kingdoms is ever explained very well and the small bits of info we do get don't make very much sense either.
  • Welcome Back, Traitor: Gunnbjorn's story. Although he betrays his culture, and didn't return for years, he gets forgiven pretty easily.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Retribution of Scyrah see Human magic as the cancer that's killing their goddess. The only thing that prevents them from becoming completely Unfettered is that they don't kill needlessly. Humans who "can still be saved" will be spared as long as they agree not to pursue magical studies.
  • The White House: Cygnar, Khador, Cryx, the Protectorate and Ios each have their own version.
  • Wicked Witch: The Old Witch of Khador.
  • Witch Doctor: All of the Gatorman warlocks.
  • Wolf Man: Warpwolves.
  • Worm Sign: The Skorne razor worm.
  • World of Badass: So very much.
  • Wrench Wench: The pirate character Dirty Meg is the most prominent example.
  • Writers Cannot Do Math: It has been noted that by casualty statistics everyone in Cygnar has died already... twice.
    • Did we mention it holds about half the of total human population (about 20 million humans, with Cygnar holding 9)?
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Asphyxious speaks this way, mostly because he is a few thousand years old and totally insane.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: Toruk and Everblight are each trying to bring about their own Zombie Apocalypse:
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